but we can let them know that we mourn with them. >> and while opponents protested the nra, the nra told nbc news it will not comment until the facts are thoroughly known. they deactivated their facebook page on sasht after celebrating getting to 1.7 million fans during the week, by the way. so it's the gun owners of america, a gun rights group to the right of the nra that's filling the void. the group's executive director, larry pratt, told "hardball"'s chris matthews, the sandy hook tragedy could have been averted if the teachers had been harmed. >> we've said, no, no, no, no, there's something really special and who knows what about those schools and maybe the teachers can't be trusted with a gun there. >> would this be a less free country if you couldn't have an assault rifle? >> well yb away. >> wait a minute, wait a minute. >> and finally in some other news, we may be closer to a deal on the fiscal cliff than ever before and it may come down to selling any deal that boehner and obama strike to their respective rank and file. today, boehner will meet with house republicans after mak